Iran NT: Players, Team, and Related Updates

Jahanbakhsh also scored today in cup action in Holland.

 

Team of the 2017 half season in the Eredivisie. Iran's Alireza Jahanbakhsh made the list.

 

Iran's Kaveh Rezaei finished the half season with Charleroi in Belgium scoring his 10th goal of the season and becoming the joint top scorer in Belgium's league. However, since Rezaei has scored his 10 goals in 20 matches, while Isaac Thelin has scored 10 goals in 18 matches, the latter is positioned above Rezaei in the standings.

http://www.fifa.com/live-scores/nat...-pro-league-2000000009/top-scorers/index.html
RANK NAME TEAM GS MP
1 Isaac THELIN 10 18
2 Kaveh REZAEI Charleroi 10 20
3 Abdoulay DIABY Club Brugge 9 19
3 Henry Onyekuru Anderlecht 9 19

 

http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-12/27/c_136855804.htm
Iran's Haji Safi to join Olympiakos

 

Karim Ansarifard scored two goals for Olympiacos, solidifying his position as the top goal scorer in the Greek Super League with 11 goals. The first goal was from the penalty spot, but the 2nd goal was a nice header.
https://www.topscorersfootball.com/superleague

 

Jahanbakhsh with a goal and assist today for AZ Alkamar.
You can see his goal below.
http://s.tamasha.com/statics/videos_file/373654_0_normalized_854x480.mp4

 

Karim Ansarifard again scored for Olympiacos, this time from the penalty spot, to bring his tally of goal scored in the Greek Super League to 12 goals this season and maintain his place on top of the goal scorers list.
http://www.superleaguegreece.net/en/stats/topplayers

 

Ansarifard and Rezaie both scored today for their clubs.

Video clip of Ansarifard's goal against AEK Athens:
http://s.tamasha.com/statics/videos_file/379385_0_normalized_854x480.mp4

The goal by Ansarifard improved his tally to 13, as he continues to be the top goal scorer in the Greek Super league. Despite Ansarifard's goal, AEK Athens (with Masoud Shojaie in their starting lineup) ended up winning 2:1 courtesy to two late goals in the dying minutes of the match.

Rezaei also scored to help his club draw 3:3. This was Rezaei's 11th goal this season, which sees him in 2nd place in Belgium's Jupiler league top goal scorer column.
Rezaei's goal:
http://s.tamasha.com/statics/videos_file/379371_0_normalized_854x480.mp4

p.s.
Interestingly, even though Ansarifard and Rezaei had started for their clubs regularly since the start of the season, both started from the bench today. While Rezaei had not scored the past couple of weeks and fallen behind in the top goal scorer column, Ansarifard was picked the player of the week in Greece last week so the decision to start him from the bench was a bit puzzling.

 

Russia's premier league is still on its winter break, but if I had to wrap up the performance of Iran's European based players elsewhere, clearly Ansarifard, Rezaei, Jahanbahsh, and Ghoddos are doing very well for their clubs. Shojaie is also doing alright, getting to regularly start for his new club, AEK Athens. These are all forwards and attacking midfielders/wingers. On the other hand, Rezaeian and Haj Safaei (both full backs) aren't doing well in Belgium and Greece, neither featuring for their clubs recently. This basically suggests that Iran's offensive players are comparatively more talented than our defensive players, even though Iran's team defense is rated the best in Asia.

 

Alireza Jahanbakhsh scored twice today for his club as Alkmaar won 4:0 against Twente in the Eredivisie. The first goal was from the penalty spot.

On Tuesday, Ghoochannejad scored for Heerenveen against Zwolle but his club still lost 3:2. Ghoochannejad who had scored 18 goals for Heerenveen last season and finished 3rd in the Eredivisie top goal scorer list, had lost his starting position for the club this season. The past few games, he has been back in the starting lineup and has scored twice since the winter break.

AEK Athens again defeated Olympiacos, this time in the Greek cup, 2:1. Both Masoud Shojaie (AEK) and Ansarifard (Olympiacos) started for their clubs but neither had a hand in the goals that were scored.

 

A correction: Ansarifard actually didn't start against AEK and came in as a sub. Which is the 2nd game in a row (both losses against AEK) that Olympiocas has for some reason decided not to start their top (and the Greek super league's) top scorer! Having lost both these matches, despite Ansarifard actually scoring for them as a sub in the league game against AEK, I hope Olympiacos' coach will discover that it isn't exactly wise to bench your top goal scorer.

Masoud Shojaie did play the whole 90 minutes for AEK again and seems to be in a good place with his new club.

But this was a very good week for the Iranian duo in the Eredivisie. Although Ghoochannejad's team lost, he scored and has found his way starting for his club again. And Jahanbakhsh again had a very good match for Alkmaar, with 2 goals and 1 assist. With these 2 goals bringing his tally to 10 goals this season, Jahanbakhsh (who is also prolific in giving assists) is now 3rd in the top goal scorers list in the Eredivisie.

http://www.worldfootball.net/goalgetter/ned-eredivisie-2017-2018/

 

I post this report, even though it has nothing to do with football per se, because it nonetheless highlights the silliness of actually looking at recruitment practices of big clubs as it relates to Iranian players and comparing it to players recruited from elsewhere. Going to Wc2014, the money regularly paid to teams who qualify to the World Cup was delayed for along time being paid to Iran by FIFA, and our team faced numerous other issues (many of which is still faces) organizing its friendlies and travel and a host of other things. Even with sanctions supposedly lifted in the wake of the nuclear deal, transactions with entities or people living in Iran still face numerous hurdles. The climate of uncertainty because of confusing rules and regulations in light of US imposed measures, means organizations and clubs with any ties with the US are in particular often loathe to have the simplest dealings with anyone from Iran.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2...ss-out-on-winter-olympics-samsung-smartphones

 

I actually saw portions of the match on net and too bad his club lost 3:0. But Ghoddos had a couple of nice shots and played a role in the penalty his club didn't convert.

 

I haven't commented on the top news dominating the headlines and talk shows in Iranian football, mainly because I cannot be truly objective on the issue. For those who don't know, of course, Iran's legendary player, Ali Karimi, has been lambasting both the Iranian football federation and Iran's coach, Carlos Querioz, including in a debate with the secretary general of Iran's football federation broadcast live on the widely popular Navad (90) show. The focus of Karimi's criticisms have been allegations of corruption and mismanagement, as well as the free reign given to Querioz to do as he pleases (including when it comes to various deals and arrangements which aren't above board according to Karimi as well as his decision last year to let go of his Iranian coaching staff due to his rift with the head coach of Iran's most popular club, Persepolis, namely Branko -- and their refusal to join Queiroz in criticizing Branko and apparently not joining him in his hasty and subsequently reversed decision to basically kick out Persepolis players from Iran's squad).

Initially, Queiroz took his standard approach, going on the offensive immediately even before Karimi's interview was finished, texting a message calling Karimi a coward and labeling him "Mr. Quitter". That tactic backfired and for the first time Queiroz saw Iranian football fans -- which had hitherto tolerated his attacks on everyone else -- mostly support Karimi. In this latest tweet, Queiroz has been a bit more guarded, saying he wants to appear on the Navad show to respond to the allegations and promising that Karimi would apologize to him for his comments.

I find the distraction potentially damaging to Iran's national team, which has seen our fans (for better or worse) united behind Queiroz previously. But while I don't deny Queiroz credit for the team he has put together, and admit that his success has surprised me greatly and taught me things along the way, ultimately I am a fan of Ali Karimi and no fan of Carlos Queiroz. The problem is that I am also a fan of Iran's national team, which complicates things at this time when Iran's focus should be on preparing itself for Russia. I guess if I truly believed anything genuinely positive and productive would come from this episode, I would be more eager to even risk our World Cup campaign to join the fans who have picked Karimi's side in Iran. But right now, as long as Queiroz doesn't stir the pot further, I guess I am inclined to hope the whole thing blows away. Until the World Cup is over, when I hope Queiroz will have achieved unprecedented success and then let go, being told that there are things that even rate above being successful.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...in-league-of-their-own-in-attacking-the-state

 

Both Ghoochannejad and Jahanabakhsh scored for the clubs in Holland.

Jahanbakhsh, who is the 3rd top scorer in the Eredivisie, scored the opening goal for his club, AZ Alkaamar, in their 3:1 win over NAC. This was Jahanbahsh's 11th goal this season.

Ghoochannejad has begun scoring for his club again, scoring the tying goal for Heerenveen against PSV Eindoven today. This was only Ghoochannejad's 5th goal this season, but his 3rd goal since the winter break. The first half the season, Ghoochannejad has struggled to find the net and had found himself often on the bench for Heerenveen. Since the winter break, he has been back in the starting lineup and scoring quite regularly to boot.

 

Kaveh Rezaei scored today for Charleroi from the penalty spot. He has 12 goals this season (3 from pks) and remains 3rd in the Jupiler league goal scorer charts.

 

Good day for the Iranian players in the Eredivisie.

Jahanbakhsh scored 2 goals to help his club win 2:1, although his first goal was apparently counted as an own goal. Nonetheless, he is now the 2nd top goal scorer in the Eredivisie with 12 goals. Ghoochannejad also scored his 6th goal of the season and his club won as well. Ghoochannejad has been starting for Henerveen again the past 7 games, when earlier in the season he has lost his starting position and was often used as a sub instead. He has regained his form in good time as Iran will need to start choosing its roster for Russia.

The Russian league has started. Azmoun still hasn't found the back of the net this season for Rubin Kazan but once, but he did assist in the goal scored by his club.

You can click to see Jahanbakhsh's goals below.
http://s.tamasha.com/statics/videos_file/400808_0_normalized_854x480.mp4

http://s.tamasha.com/statics/videos_file/400815_0_normalized_854x480.mp4

 

The news I read about Jahanbakhsh getting injured in the match I posted above really concerns me. If anyone has any news on it, please share. I hate injury to any of our players, but Jahanbakhsh is probably our best player right now.